|
 Beaver
discussed the historic migration of
nearly 8 million to the shores of
America, many of whom got caught up
in the chaos of our American Civil
War. He noted that the Irish
soldiers demanded there always be a
Catholic Chaplain in their regiment
and that five Catholic chaplains
from the University of Notre Dame
were in these Irish Regiments. Gen.
William T. Sherman’s widow in the
1890’s visited the University of
Notre Dame to present a large bronze
plaque, inscribed with words of
gratitude for the efforts of these
priests.
Beaver explained the various reasons
the Irish immigrated to America, the
reception they received, and the
impact they had on the areas they
settled. He pointed out that many
Irish men were able to get factory
or farm jobs to help the northern
war effort.
The terrible downtrodden times of
Irish segregation in this country
was explained with many photos to
illustrate it in a full-length
power-point presentation. Beaver
highlighted the greatness of this
Irish influx. He pointed out the
contributions and successes of
several of our national and local
personalities, many as the result of
the struggles of their ancestors.
Among them were boxer John L.
Sullivan, President John F. Kennedy,
Julia Roberts, George Clooney,
Nicole Kidman, Liam Neeson, and Drew
Barrymore.
Paul included information and photos
of American livestock from the
mid-1800's through mid-1900's, which
were much superior to the Irish
livestock — primarily due to much
less crop abundance to feed them.
Irish immigrant William Scully
scuttled his failed attempt to raise
sheep as his family had done in
Ireland. He then concentrated on
dredging the Central Illinois
prairie in order to raise crops and
livestock — realizing early on that
the fertile loam soil of the
mid-west was much superior to that
of his homeland.
Photos and name captions of the
Elkhart Dwyer, Hickey, Gleason,
Hegerty, Smith, Dee, Murphy, Walsh,
and Tierney families were featured.
With the ditty, Danny Boy, playing
in the background, a choice of tasty
corn beef and cabbage or meat loaf
and mashed potatoes were served.
The next dinner talk will be on
April 18th at the Wildhare Cafe.
Lincoln College's Dr. Dennis
Campbell will present "The Life and
Times of Logan County Mammals". The
talk will focus on three of the
county's time periods: prehistoric,
mid-1800's, and the present.
For more information and
registration, go to
http://www.elkharthistoricalsociety.org/
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Additional information:
Notre Dame and General Sherman
Although Sherman was an agnostic,
his wife Ellie was a pious Catholic.
Her favorite cousin was Mother
Angela, a Holy Cross nun who ran a
hospital for Sherman's wounded
soldiers in Memphis, Tennessee.
(Angela Boulevard in South Bend is
named after her.) Ellie was also
acquainted with Notre Dame's
founder, Rev. Edward Sorin, C.S.C.
In 1862 she enrolled her son Willy
as a minim at Notre Dame and sent
her daughter Minnie to St. Mary's
College. Sadly, Willy died in
October, 1863, while visiting his
father in Memphis. Notre Dame's
Father Joseph Carrier, C.S.C., was
at Willy's bedside when he died, and
his presence was much appreciated by
the Shermans.
In September 1864, Ellie moved
her entire family to South Bend and
enrolled her son Tommy in the Notre
Dame minim program. On June 7, 1865,
General Sherman spoke at the
commencement exercises. Moved to
tears by stories about his beloved
Willy, Sherman promised that the
boys of Notre Dame would always be
dear to him. Sherman's
granddaughter, Eleanor Sherman
Fitch, donated family papers,
photographs, and memorabilia to the
Archives of the University of Notre
Dame prior to her death in 1959. The
photographs on display in this
exhibit have been selected from the
Sherman Collection and were publicly
exhibited at the Snite Museum for
the first time.
Source:
http://archives.nd.edu/research/
exhibits/barnard/sbio.html
Sherman was a practicing Roman
Catholic up until the Civil War.
After the war Sherman, possibly due
to trauma the war caused, claimed to
have stopped partaking in organized
religious life for the latter part
of his adult life, although his
wife, Ellen Ewing Sherman, was a
devout Catholic and their son Thomas
became a Catholic priest. According
to his son, Sherman attended the
Catholic Church until the outbreak
of the Civil War but not
thereafter.[131] In 1888, Sherman
wrote publicly that "my immediate
family are strongly Catholic. I am
not and cannot be."[132] A memoirist
reports that Sherman told him in
1887 that "my family is strongly
Roman Catholic, but I am not."[133]
Sherman was buried at Calvary
Catholic Cemetery in St. Louis,
Missouri.
Source:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William
_Tecumseh_Sherman
[Phil Bertoni]
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Elkhart
Historical Society acknowledges the
Irish with presentation by Paul
Beaver
